If you suffer from any sort of balance disorder, you’ve probably come to realize that stress plays a big part in how good (or bad) you feel. For me personally, it’s taken me quite a while to realize the intimate connection between these two forces, but once I came to recognize it, it allowed me to better control when and where I feel dizzy.
As I said in my last post, I took a great vacation, and was able to unwind for a few days. I felt tremendously better (I did have my usual daily dizziness, but it was actually much better than usual). The lack of work-related stress really seemed to have a positive impact on how I felt.
I find exercise has the same stress-relieving effect — and it usually lasts for several hours after I exercise. And alcohol, while it certainly relieves stress in the short term, actually makes me feel more stressed in the longer term.
So while alcohol may be a quick fix for stress, it has a negative cumulative effect, and can often leave you feeling more stressed later in the day or the next day. Not to mention that alcohol is usually a motivation-killer as well.
As I’ve told myself many times, I need to avoid alcohol more, eat better and exercise more regularly (good advice for anyone, balance disorder or not). But for me (and anyone else with balance issues), the effects of not doing these things are not just felt in 10 or 20 years, but instead almost immediately.
So it’s been about a month since I’ve written anything. What’s been going on the past month? Well, quite a bit actually (unfortunately none of which has allowed me to see a positive change in my symptoms).
I had another visit to the neurotologist (which I mentioned last time) — and I asked to have VEMP testing done. While the testing wasn’t much help (since it came back normal), I decided to ask the woman doing the testing if she knew of a good neurotologist.
She suggested one of two doctors, both of whom I haven’t seen before. They came highly recommended from her, so I’m starting to think it’s time to go and get a second opinion about what’s happening with my balance issues.
I had my appointment with the neurotologist today, and much to my surprise, neither of the doctors in neurotology had ever heard of the BrainPort, nor did they know what it did. If this is the latest advance in vestibular treatments, how come neither of these doctors has even heard of it?
This would me to one of two conclusions: either the BrainPort is not as great as its makers would have us believe, or both of these doctors aren’t keeping up on their reading about advances in treatments. But how am I, the patient, supposed to determine which is the case?
I’ve been using the BrainPort for about two weeks, and I haven’t really noticed any difference at all in my symptoms — does that mean the BrainPort doesn’t work?
It’s now been almost 2 weeks that I’ve been using the BrainPort, and I haven’t really noticed any difference so far. I’ve been sticking with the 20 minutes twice a day as prescribed by the physiotherapist, and have only missed the second session on a few days.
I certainly don’t feel any different after doing the BrainPort exercises (except for being a bit sleepy from keeping my eyes closed for 20 minutes), and I haven’t really noticed any improvement in my symptoms over the past few weeks.
Since I have a hard time keeping my eyes closed for 20 minutes (I get really bored), I’ve figured out that an episode of Seinfeld is about twenty minutes long without ads, the intro and closing credits (I’ve got them on DVD). So I listen to the episodes while I stand there with my eyes closed (I only turn the sound on, not the picture, so I’m not tempted to open my eyes to watch the show).
It’s now been about 3 weeks that I’ve been sticking with the vestibular rehabilitation therapy, and I haven’t noticed much of an improvement (but I’m still hopeful that things are going to get better).
The therapist said that not having any subjective improvement (i.e. me feeling better) after only 2 or 3 weeks is normal — that I shouldn’t really feel the effects of the VRT until about the fourth week.
The good news however, is that I have improved in one area. When I first went into the therapist, she asked me to read an eye chart, and then shook my head from side to side and asked me to read it again. Between the no-head-shaking and the head-shaking, I lost three lines (I had to go three lines up to be able to still read the letters).
So I just came back from the vestibular rehabilitation therapist, and we went over my first exercises today. Some of them made me feel pretty dizzy and nauseous, but she says that that’s a good thing.
So I basically have 3 exercises that I have to do 3 times per day. She said we’d move on to some more challenging exercises once these become easier.
The first exercise is to stand heel-to-toe in a doorway with my eyes closed (it’s harder than it sounds, but maybe just for me). I guess this is to retrain my brain to rely more on my feet for balance than just using my vestibular system.
The second is to look at a business card from arm’s length away while shaking my head faster and faster. This one made me particularly dizzy — but again, that’s supposedly a good sign for the potential for improvement.
I’ve often complained that I constantly feel like I’m falling or dropping when sitting still. It’s a terrible feeling, and it really drives me nuts. For me, the feeling comes and goes — it’s worse when I’m tired or hungry.
A case like Cheryl’s would normally be completely hopeless. But due to a specially-fitted construction hat that’s connected to her tongue (yes, you read that right, her tongue), she’s able to actually regain her sense of balance while wearing the hat.
I went to a physiotherapy clinic for an assessment with a physiotherapist that specializes in vestibular rehabilitation therapy, and I got some extremely good news. She thinks she can have my functioning almost back to normal in about 6 weeks!
The physiotherapist videotaped my eyes using some goggles (they resemble scuba goggles, and this is the third time I’ve had to wear them for this particular type of test). They’re very tight-fitting and a bit uncomfortable, and they make things very dark.
Apparently there are infrared cameras inside the goggles that record your eye movements; so after the physiotherapist shook my head back and forth with her hands, I had to look up and to the left, and then up and to the right.
Lately I’ve had a strange sensation in my right ear — it’s like it’s throbbing irregularly (kind of the like the feeling when you’re heart is beating really fast after a vigorous workout).
I’ve never had this sensation before, but it seems to show up mostly in the morning and before I go to bed. I’ve started using in-ear headphones more often lately, and I’m wondering if it has something to do with that.
My overall balance seems to have improved a bit though, right about the time the ear throbbing started. Could this be some kind of sign that something is going on in my ear? That the throbbing has somehow improved my balance?
I’m just wondering if anyone else has felt this kind of throbbing in their ear before. It’s a very unique sensation, and if you’ve had it, I’m sure you’ll know what I mean.
It’s been a beautiful weekend here, and I’ve been enjoying doing lots of things outdoors. I try to spend as much time as possible outside when the weather’s nice, and I’m kind of an outside person by nature.
Most of my time was spent at the beach this weekend, which is certainly one of my favourite places to be. Yet it actually made me notice something about my balance that has really never occurred to me before…
When lying on my stomach and with my head at a 45 degree angle, I often get ‘drop attacks’ or feelings of sudden imbalance. The same goes for when my head is tilted at a 45 degree angle the other way.
